Work on Pathankot-Mandi NH project to slow down

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, March 18

The ongoing construction work of the Pathankot-Mandi national highway widening project in the Nurpur section (Kandwal to Bherkhud) is likely to slow down, as the state High Court, while admitting a civil writ petition (CWP) of 106 four-lane affected persons, had on March 15 ordered the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to maintain status quo with regard to the possession of the land of the petitioners.

However, the NHAI has acquired the land of these affected persons, as per the NHAI Act-1956 and paid a calculated compensation into their bank accounts but they had been raising the demand of fair compensation for their immovable properties, as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Around six months ago, the aggrieved persons had filed a civil writ petition in the High Court, making the NHAI, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Competent Authority Land Acquisition (CALA), Nurpur, as respondents. They pleaded that all residential houses, business establishments and commercial complexes were going to be acquired for the NHAI project and they would be displaced and rendered jobless.

The petitioners had also raised objections to the non-preparation of the Social Impact Assessment Report and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Scheme for the displaced. They had objected to determining three different market values of the same property by the CALA. They alleged that it was a violation of fundamental rights to equality of the petitioners.

The petitioners had appealed to the court to restrain the respondents from taking possession of their properties without redressing their grievances during the pendency of the CWP. They had also appealed to court to impugn all notifications issued by the NHAI while carrying out land acquisition proceedings under the NHAI Act -1956 and quash awards passed by the CALA, Nurpur

Meanwhile, Darbari Singh, president of Four-lane Sangarsh Samiti, Nurpur, welcomed the admission of the CWP by the HC and granting status quo. He said the verdict had provided hope to the affected families that they would get justice.